The Public Lecture Series

Acterra’s Public Lecture Series features prominent voices from throughout the environmental sector, addressing urgent issues that face region and our planet. With series in both fall and spring, we offer many opportunities to learn about and discuss environmental issues with like-minded community members.

Our lectures take place in and around the Palo Alto area, and are often hosted by corporate partners like Microsoft, Facebook, and LinkedIn. They are open to the public, and cost $10 to attend. For an annual membership starting at $40, you can get free access to our public lecture series for one year. We also offer free access to all students.

Youth Panel on Environmental Action

Increasingly, young participants are choosing to shape political and social discussions, and in the climate change arena, legions of young people have mobilized to demand social, environmental, and economic progress. Our panelists will explain how they have created momentum around their personal convictions through social networks, community organizing, and entrepreneurship.

Kristy Drutman (moderator) is a digital strategist and the host of Brown Girl Green, a podcast and media series dedicated to critical conversations around building an environmentally just society. Kristy interviews environmental rights leaders on their visions for a sustainable world for future generations. She also advocates for increased diversity and inclusiveness in the environmental movement. As a Filipina American, Kristy is inspired to change the image of what it means to be an environmentalist in the 21st century.

Cambria Bartlett is a 14-year old member of the founding chapter of Heirs To Our Oceans (H2OO) studying the impacts of oil consumption, climate change and pollution as they relate to plastic production and disposal. To make change in the world, Cambria is committed to growing her abilities by studying empathetic leadership and human impact issues that face our blue planet. H2OO supports these goals and other global youth in their journey of being leaders who value a sustainable future. Through the Heirs To Our Oceans movement, Cambria has gained access to speak with adults and other youth about her passion: preventing all forms of plastic pollution - on land, in the water and in the air.

Octavia “Shay” Barton, age 14, leads the Pescadero chapter of Heirs to Our Oceans. Shay is committed to understanding the impacts of climate change on our planet, especially on the communities most at risk. Her research on these issues, coupled with outreach to local and national experts, have deepened her perspective on the crisis that ocean waters face. Shay has spoken locally, nationally, and internationally on the subjects of plastic pollution, climate change, and vulnerable communities. She has led her chapter in successfully phasing out single-use plastics from her school and her community, and now her chapter is working toward solar power for the school.

Mercedes Thompson is a first-year student at Stanford University pursuing a B.S. in Earth Systems. She co-founded the youth-led organization, Baltimore Beyond Plastic, in her junior year of high school. Working with hundreds of students across Baltimore, Baltimore Beyond Plastic pursued a legislative campaign that resulted in the Baltimore City Council unanimously passing a styrofoam ban. Subsequently styrofoam trays were replaced with compostable products in all 182 schools in the school district.

Innovating our way to environmental justice? Tensions and paradoxes in our efforts to combat climate change.

Wednesday, April 24th, 7:30pmReception and gallery walk-through at 6:30 pm

Khalid Kadir is a Professor and Program Director at Presidio Graduate School, teaching Economy and Society at both the San Francisco and Seattle campuses. Khalid's teaching and program development takes an inter-sectoral approach to understanding sustainability and social justice problems facing the world today. His work on curriculum design at Presidio Graduate School builds on his experience creating an innovative interdisciplinary engineering course at UC Berkeley that trains future engineers to engage with the social and political roots of their technical work. In recognition of this work, Khalid was awarded the 2014 Chancellor’s Award for Public Service for Service-Learning Leadership. In addition to his teaching, Khalid has consulted with various non-profit organizations on environmental sustainability, water, sanitation, and poverty, with an eye towards addressing the needs of marginalized communities.

Climate leadership and the future of transportation in California: Annie Notthoff in conversation with Max Baumhefner

Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 pmReception and gallery walk-through at 6:30 pm

Annie Notthoff is the Senior Western Advocacy Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in San Francisco and Sacramento, working on a broad range of initiatives to promote climate action, public health and environmental protection. She led NRDC’s efforts to get many of California’s nationally significant environmental laws enacted including: the Marine Life Protection Act (1999), Pavley Clean Car bill (2002), Global Warming Solutions Act (2006), climate and land use (2008), water policy reforms (2009), Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act (2015), 2030 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets and Equity (2016), and extending California’s price on carbon to 2030 and strengthening local air quality controls (2017). Ms. Notthoff is a board member on the State Coastal Conservancy and she served on the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) for over 20 years. In 2015, Ms. Notthoff was honored to receive a CLCV Northern California Environmental Leadership Award. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and a Masters of City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.

Max Baumhefner is Senior Attorney with the Climate and Clean Energy Program at NRDC, based in San Francisco. Mr. Baumhefner works to make our nation’s cars, trucks, and buses zero emission vehicles. He focuses on electrifying the transportation sector in a manner that also accelerates the transition to a smarter, more affordable electric grid powered by renewable resources. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Pomona College and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Fall 2018 Lecture Series

Ertharin Cousin is the former executive director of the World Food Programme and US ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome, nominated by President Obama. In these roles, she led efforts to address issues related to nutrition and agriculture, including the relationship between climate change and food insecurity. An expert and pioneer in addressing global hunger, she has been listed as one of Forbes’ “100 Most Powerful Women” and TIME’s “100 Most Influential People.” Currently, she is serving as the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford.

David Hochschild was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Energy Commission in February 2013 and fills the environmental position on the Commission. In 2001, as Special Assistant to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, he launched a citywide $100 million initiative to put solar panels on public buildings. He went on to co-found the Vote Solar Initiative, an organization advocating for local, state, and federal solar policies. In the private sector, he served as executive director of a national consortium of leading solar manufacturers and worked for five years at Solaria, a solar company in Silicon Valley. In 2007-2008, he served as a commissioner at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Eugene CorderoHow education can impact long-term carbon emissions—one burrito at a time

Eugene Cordero is a climate scientist and professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San José State University. Eugene’s science research is focused on understanding the processes responsible for long-term changes in climate through the use of observations and atmospheric models. Eugene is also interested in the design of educational experiences that encourage social change in students to produce environmental benefits. Currently, Eugene is the founder and director of Green Ninja (www.greenninja.org), an enterprise that creates educational experiences to help students design a more sustainable world. With special guest Anne Lee, founder of the student group Schools Under 2C